Question

as |a| increases, the parabola becomes narrower. complete as |a| decreases, the parabola becomes wider. narrower. flat.

Explanation:

Step1: Recall parabola coefficient effect

For a parabola \( y = ax^2 \), the absolute value of \( a \) (\(|a|\)) determines the width. Larger \(|a|\) means narrower (steeper), smaller \(|a|\) means wider (flatter).

Step2: Apply to decreasing \(|a|\)

Since as \(|a|\) decreases, the parabola's width increases (becomes wider), we choose "wider".

Answer:

wider